Jul. 5—Lodi resident Frank Wright reached a milestone today as he turned 100, and to celebrate, he asked people from all over the country to send birthday cards.
He set a goal to receive 100,000, and as of Thursday, he had about 400 mailed to him.
“I knew I was going to get more than 100,” he said about setting the 100,000 goal. “And I knew I was going to get a lot. But I chose (the number), because that’s what I really wanted.”
Inside his apartment at Solstice Senior Living, he has separated each letter by state of origin, with some coming from as far away as Guam. And he’s read each one.
There is a large box full of letters solely from California, and he had another box of cards waiting for him at the Post Office Thursday morning.
“It’s an honor,” he said about reaching 100 years. “The good lord has been very good to me in order to reach this. I try to see all the people I can, especially the children, because they’re the ones who are going to grow up and make their owns decisions. I like to influence them.”
Wright, a native of Arkadelphia, Ark., enlisted with the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942 at the age of 16 and completed basic boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.
He fought in battles throughout the Pacific Theater during World War II, including at Iwo Jima, where he witnessed the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi, which has since been memorialized in Joe Rosenthal’s photograph that has become synonymous with victory for American armed forces.
“I don’t like war,” Wright said. “I’ve seen too many things attached to wars one human should not do to another human.”
Wright was assigned to the 4th Marine Raiders unit out of Camp Pendleton, a special operations unit created in 1942 to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare led by Lt. Col. James Roosevelt, son of the president.
During his service, Wright fought in four major battles, traveled between islands on 11 different Navy ships, was wounded in the stomach by a bayonet while recapturing Guam, and was shot in the chest and arm by machine gun fire on the island of Iwo Jima.
He spent the last six months of his enlistment as a Marine drill instructor training new recruits.
Wright was awarded the Purple Heart with two stars, the Presidential Unit Citation with two stars, Navy Unit Commendation, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign with three service stars, the Fleet Marine Force with four stars, the Marine Corps Expedition Medal, Combat Action with four stars, the Victory medal and the Good Conduct Medal.
He is believed to be one of the three last surviving members of the Raiders, and penned a memoir about his experiences in 2019 entitled “Battles in the Pacific.”
Wright said living to be 100 never entered his mind until after he was married, adding he and his wife used to “argue” as to who would reach the milestone.
“I told her if you reach 100 first then I know you probably won’t go looking for another man to help you,” he said. “She was a loner. She liked to be alone. And she said her idea was that six months after she passed I’d be married. I said no.”
To celebrate 100 years, Solstice will host a party for Wright and his family, with relatives coming from Arkansas and Oregon.
The original plan was to have a barbecue at Wright’s granddaughter’s ranch. She had to cancel the party, but Wright wanted to make sure his family had somewhere to go after making reservations at local hotels.
Wright said there were too many important events in history that stand out in his 100 years, but the end of segregation was one that has stayed with him.
“I went to high school in Arkansas, and we had no Black students until the governor and politicians decided we had to do away with segregation,” he said. “They had to have the military out and forward to get the first student enrolled.”
He also recalled a time when he was stationed at Fort Stevens in Astoria, Ore. in 1942. It was the first military installation in the contiguous United States to come under enemy fire in World War II.
On the night of June 21—22, the Japanese submarine I-25 surfaced off the fort — which was situated at the mouth of the Columbia River — and fired 17 shells from its deck gun, The attack caused no damage to the fort itself, only destroying the backstop of the post’s baseball field.
“It was earth-shattering for me to be on guard duty at a place where the Japanese could have taken over,” he said. “They really could have done it. They could have landed on the beach and could have taken over Astoria. It was a traumatic thing for us on guard duty.”
Birthday cards can be send to Wright at the Stockton Marine Corps Club, PO Box 691045, Stockton, CA 95269.